It’s official: COSCO becomes shareholder of terminal in Hamburg
The German federal government approved the entrance of COSCO as a shareholder of the HHLA Container Terminal Tollerort (CTT). As HHLA explained, the terminal will now become one of the preferred handling locations for the Chinese giant at the port of Hamburg. “All issues within the scope of the investment screening process were clarified jointly in intensive, constructive talks”, said HHLA.
COSCO is therefore becoming the owner of 24,9 per cent of the shares of CTT. Initial talks, which started in September 2022, saw COSCO willing to purchase 35 per cent of the shares of the terminal. However, the members of the federal government were not too keen on approving the deal, with Robert Habeck, the German minister of economy, asking to halt COSCO’s rise in the port of Hamburg.
On the other hand, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz tried to push to finalise the deal. At the end of October, the parties involved agreed to settle for 24,9 per cent of CTT shares. Some optimism already surfaced in January, when HHLA and COSCO’s subsidiary Cosco Shipping Ports Ltd started finalising the last details of the operations.
COSCO in Germany
Other than becoming a shareholer in CTT, COSCO withdrew from the Duisburg Gateway Terminal. The Chinese company owned 30 per cent of the terminal’s shares and decided to sell them to duisport in June. The deal was kept a secret until the end of October and reasons for this initiative were never officially disclosed.
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